Alcohol Use Disorders: The Role of Employment Status and the Effectiveness of Occupational Therapy

Abstract

Alcoholism is an addiction that has a high prevalence in Central and Eastern Europe, alongside tobacco use and obesity, being recognized as one of the major factors contributing to disability and premature death. The economic pressure caused by alcohol consumption is significant, and national economies suffer major deficits due to this widely propagated phenomenon. Understanding the consumption behavior, from its origins to the development of the behavior itself, and the treatment of alcohol dependence, falls within the purview of psychiatric and psychological practice. The multitude of facets of alcohol consumption makes it both attractive to a wide range of individuals and difficult to define in terms of its influence on the person as a whole: physiologically, temperamentally, characterologically, and psychosocially. The effects of alcohol on consumers are specific to a versatile substance: disinhibition, reduction of anxiety, alteration of somatic sensations, speech rate and fluency, motor skills, and other cognitive-behavioral dimensions. The addictiveness of alcohol is closely related to its impact on consumers, especially in terms of the relationship that develops between the individual and the behavior of consumption. As the literature shows, the development of alcohol addiction is linked to deep emotional aspects specific to humans, giving it a psychosocial and cultural component that transforms it into a characteristic human construct.